Various attachments for, for example, brass instruments having a bell component have been suggested for a variety of reasons including muting, partial reflection and/or partial deflection of sound emanating from the wind instrument.
However, none of the known instrument attachments provide for the unique symmetrical association as does the instant invention for the purpose of reflecting sound in what may be considered symmetrical fashion rearwardly towards the player of the instrument. Usually, sound projects out of the bell of the instrument, away from the player. The audience hears the sound, both direct out of the instrument and reflected off the room or venue walls where the instrument is played.
Musicians and the like have longed for the ability to be able to change sound wave form promulgation and also change the timbre of an instrument so that certain sounds can be reflected and/or absorbed depending upon certain end results desired. Many means have been suggested in the prior art for achieving this, but none have succeeded to the point that professional musicians with a trained ear for sound have been completely satisfied with the end results. An acoustic lens is a device which alters the propagation of a waveform. The device of this invention acts in this manner. In one case, the air coming out of the bell of the trumpet contacts the diaphragm. The phase relationship at this point is reversed 180.degree. and some of the soundwave reverses its course.
With the herein disclosed invention, it is possible to achieve all of the aforementioned attributes in a single attachment that is adapted for symmetrical, spaced association with the bell or other sound projecting end of a wind instrument. Additionally, by the utilization of the device of the invention, one learning to play a musical instrument is for the first time surrounded with true sound that he himself is generating and thus obtains a true understanding and measure of the sounds that are generated with the musical instrument that he is learning to play.
As exemplary of some of the prior art, a preliminary patentability search of the U.S. Patent Office records was conducted and the following patents were uncovered by the search:
______________________________________ Patent No. Inventor Issue Date ______________________________________ 1,045,700 J. J. Greenwood Nov. 26, 1912 1,508,024 William A. McArthur Sept. 9, 1924 Des. 69,112 H. L. Buskey Dec. 29, 1925 2,574,591 W. W. Rudd Nov. 13, 1951 3,016,782 W. E. Laas Jan. 16, 1962 3,392,619 R. M. Hill July 16, 1968 3,099,183 E. H. Alles July 30, 1963 3,429,215 Gerald H. Finch Feb. 25, 1969 3,555,956 Daniel W. Martin Jan. 19, 1971 3,760,679 Benjamin R. Gossick; Sept. 25, 1973 Karl A. Schneider Re. 30,300 Thomas L. Ploeger Jun. 10, 1980 4,226,162 Alfred Ebach Oct. 7. 1980 4,998,959 Thomas Purdie Mar. 12, 1991 ______________________________________
A more in-depth description of each of the pertinent patents follows: